


Brave The Waters With Me

by kangelique



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Best Friends, Brothers, Family, Gen, Orphanage, Orphans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 17:37:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15442329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kangelique/pseuds/kangelique
Summary: Emma Swan and Killian Jones. Two orphans. Two best friends. When they decide to escape the nightmare of Brooke Orphanage to find something better out in the world, they come to realize that even though they vowed to be together they are still constantly kept apart and each time they come back to each other, its more distant than ever. A lot of things change over the years, but will their love remain just as strong as when they first left?





	Brave The Waters With Me

**Author's Note:**

> There are a whole bunch of ideas for other CaptainSwan stories that I've thought about writing/starting and then this one just came to me at night (literally) and I got very inspired, this first chapter just flowing out so easily so it had me like "you know what, here it comes," and now here it is, so hope you like it!

Chapter one:

She sits with her back leaning against the tree's trunk. With her head on the bark, and her arms tucked under her thighs to keep her knees close, she stares at the flowing stream, watching it bring the water up and down in the recently added rain, almost reaching up to where her feet are closest to the edge but not getting there yet. So she stays where she is, even though the ground underneath her is hard and disgustingly squishy that she's sure she'll have a mud stain once she stands up, but she still stays because it's peaceful. It's a small stream, only ever rising to gain its name when a real storm comes in; that's how she'd managed to sneak out. She waited ti'll the rain and lightning had passed and then gotten out through a window to come down here, actually having been fairly easy because most of the ones who could have stopped her were far more busy trying to stop the roof from leaking, which always meant there was a  _drip-drip_ going on when it was time to go to sleep. None of the other kids had noticed. They liked to stay indoors after a bad rain day, and she could get why because it left outside moist even after she waited a little bit for it to at least reach damp.

But she still liked it all the same. It meant she got to be alone, not having to hear the other kids because they were all inside. And the mimicked her mood. She still hadn't cried, and too be honest she didn't plan to. The wanting to cry had passed when they'd all taken the unexpected trip to the market. She'd held the tears in all through the remaining hours when they were there. He'd kept casting worried glances at her through all the time they were walking. She was sure he would have gone over to ask her what was wrong, but she didn't know what she would have said anyway. It was a stupid reason. She was just being overly sensitive for something as simple as that. She hadn't really cared about things like that before, but today had been the day when she apparently had cared. Still unsure why, she sat there contemplating, trying to dig herself for the reason.

 _Why Emma?_   was what she asked herself multiple times until finally deciding to close her eyes, thinking maybe this time alone would help her get back in shape, although anyone observing her might think she's going into a depressive state because of how sullen and gloomy the weather was adding to her spirit. It was quickly becoming evening. Soon it would already be dark. She wondered how long it would be for her to get caught. If she left now, she could probably still slip in unnoticed and save herself the punishment, but she didn't move. There would be some nasty consequences for sneaking out the way she did, but that was why she'd left after dinner. And frankly, hadn't eaten dinner. So now her stomach was rumbling.  _Great._

"And you didn't think to invite me, princess?"

Emma's head snapped to the left when she heard his familiar voice coming from somewhere in the mist, immediately opening her eyes to squint in that direction, confirming it was him when she saw him trudging to her as he sidestepped a number of times to avoid the muddy areas, not wanting to get his old worn out black boots dirty just as she was risking her own shoes. A small smile crossed her face at the nickname. He'd taken to calling her that for a long time now, even though she thought she was far from being a princess. But it was still there in his vocabulary, at least once a day.

"Kinda wanted to be alone," She said looking over to him as he came to sit down next to her with a sigh, leaving a few inches between them for space; The mud made his balance slightly slide, and he cringed, knowing there would be something brown once he stood up,  but he settled down next to her anyway.

"You left dinner early."

Emma hummed, nodding.

She knew he would notice. It was a small dining room, rectangular shape in its four walls, making it cramped all the time when they would serve breakfast and lunch too. She always felt isolated and suffocated by being surrounded by so many people. The girls were snarky and mean; she avoided talk with them as much as possible, but she was forced to listen to them talk loudly amongst each other and overly laugh, because all the girls sat in one long white table and all the boys sat behind them in a similar long white table that made her think they were all sitting together to be part of one big science experiment because of how freaking white the tables were. It was obvious he would notice, but she thought he wouldn't because she'd asked to be allowed to retire early while some of the kids were standing up, messing up, bringing her the beginning of a headache and an overwhelming feeling she didn't want. Of course they were more than happy to let her go. It meant one less girl to have to worry about.

Now she subtlety put a palm to her stomach, hoping by doing so it would magically make the protests and complains inside her go away. _Wishful thinking._

"You know I could probably hear those growls all the way from China."

She turned to him with a raised eyebrow, and he raised one of his own, smirking. "Really?"

He just shrugged and then downright said "No," which made her crack a smile. "But they're still pretty loud. It could probably put a bear to shame, no joke."

It made her chuckle softly, shaking her head before she felt something being placed on top her knee and saw it was a single chocolate chip cookie inside a plastic bag, still warm when she touched it and then looked at him, but he just focused his eyes on the stream.

"They gave them out after. Don't know why, it's not any occasion, I guess they just felt like it. I stole one from a fresh batch when they weren't looking cause the other ones were cold. Some idiot took mine, but I prefer brownies anyway."

He could have gotten in trouble. Even as something as simple as wanting a cookie brought them a lecture of disobedience. And she knew he actually did like cookies from time to time, specially when those times like today were rare. But he didn't like hearing her thanks. It made him squirm uncomfortable and turn a red all the way up to her ears, which she thought was cute. So instead of speaking her gratefulness, she closed the small bit of distance between them by gently laying her head on his shoulder, scooting over a little to make it easier as she opened the bag and took out the cookie, dwelling in its nice softness before taking the first delicious bite. Pretty soon she fit his cheek against the top of her head by where his skin met with her blonde waves, a bit soaked by the drops of rain that had been falling from the leaves above.

"How did you know I would be here?," She asked him in between another bite, noticing how quickly the cookie was disappearing and trying to slow herself down to make it last.

"It's not really a secret; You always come here when you're upset."

She wondered if everyone else noticed it too. Probably not. It gave her some relief. She didn't want people knowing where she always ran off to find her whenever something was caving her in. Except for the one next to her. That's why she never really change her 'hiding' spot. He always knew to come here, and soon rather than later, he did.

"And I noticed you were upset at the market."

Silence followed for a few minutes. He waited for her to speak,staring at the moving stream and smiling a little bit at the water as it tried to seep past to them over the edge but always getting pulled back in. She waited too, plastic bag balling up in her fist, cookie now gone, making her sigh because she wanted another and feeling guilty because he hadn't had one but would have refused. Every time she offered, he insisted it was okay. That thought was what got the first words out.

"It was stupid."

"Tell me anyway."

Emma sighed, arching her shoulders back a little bit and causing his cheek on top to move with her before she settled again, curling a little bit more into him even as she still held her arms under her knees but kept her head just a little bit more tucked under his chin as he adjusted to make it easier so that they could both be comfortable.

"Did you see the old lady selling the silver necklaces? We all stopped at her stand, and I liked one of them. It was kind of simple, it was just a thin chain with a silver ring around it in the middle. I wanted to buy it. But I didn't have enough money. And I think it had something written on the ring, but I don't know. The lady didn't let me see it. She gave me a weird look. Then we left. I don't know, it bugged a lot. It's just stupid."

"It's not stupid. You're allowed to want something nice, Emma." He whispered to her.

She didn't say anything. A few more minutes passed when neither of them spoke. And then a little drizzle began, but neither of them moved. The branches and leaves from the trees provided some cover, but now they would have to wait for their clothes to dry or else returning wet would get them caught faster. She was still counting on not getting caught. Maybe they wouldn't. Either way they still stayed there, frozen as to not get their clothes anymore wet but it wasn't coming down that hard. Just a bit lightly. She knew it would pass soon since the actual storm had ended probably an hour ago when she left, and this was just the after-effects.

He sniffed.

"Killian, do you not wonder what we're going to do after this? We're almost 18. They force us out after that, and we've got nothing," She didn't try to stop the worry from spilling out.

She knew his eyes closed when he quietly said, "Aye, I know."

"Then what are we going to do? We need something. Our grades suck for college, there's no chance we're getting accepted...anywhere."

"Juvie really ruined us."

She let out a humorless laugh, "Yeah."

"And to think it was supposed to straighten us out. Oh, we're straight alright, Swan. Straight on going nowhere!."

This time her laugh was real, because it was so damn true that they could actually laugh at it now. He laughed along with her, shoulders lightly moving her head up and down in his movement before she adjusted it the way she wanted to, his growing scruff tickling her forehead and making her smile despite the sadness of the situation.

"Are we really that hopeless?," Her eyebrows knit.

His voice got serious. "No. We're not."

_I can't believe that._

She really couldn't. He only said it to assure her, but deep down he was just saying it for her benefit. She allowed that sometimes, to just let him say it when she knew they were just lying to themselves to keep each other going. But it wasn't the truth. The truth was they were orphans. And had nowhere to go. No one to go to. It felt impossible. Already it felt freaking impossible.

"Liam will come."

The way he said it reminded her of a child wishfully saying his parents would come. And neither of those were true. She hated to disappoint, but that's probably why he didn't mention it so often now.

She scoffed, "Killian, you've been here for a long time. He's not coming."

He immediately tensed up, and she knew she'd hurt him by saying it. But it had been years. When he'd first arrived that's what he said too. And at one point she'd come to believe that maybe his big brother would come and save the both of them because he always told her  _I'll take you with us, Emma_ and she'd say  _Really? Okay_ , believing. But things were different now. Much more different. Now they'd grown. And Liam had never come. It made Emma question if he truly even existed, but the way Killian spoke of him so fiercely made her believe he did, all just coming to the conclusion that he'd just decided to never come.

Her tone had come out harsher than she'd meant to, so she tried to for a more gentler one, removing her head from his shoulder to look directly at him. "I'm sorry. But he's not."

He just swallowed, not shifting his eyes away from the stream to meet hers. After a while she settled her head back under. He complied by putting his cheek back on top her head, releasing a sigh. She felt something wet pass to her scalp, and she wasn't sure if it was his tear or a drop of rain. For either she didn't want to know. It sprung up tears to think it was his, so she just didn't look up to confirm.

"You know what, Emma?"

His voice was suddenly different. Tough, strong, determined.

"What?"

"We're gonna make it."

"My birthday is in 10 months," She whispered numbly.

"And mine in 14. There's still time, "He squeezed her hand briefly to assure her there was indeed time.

But there wasn't. Now it was June. Months flew by despite how the days seemed to drag here. And if the months flew just as she feared then it meant 18 would come too soon, and she wasn't ready. He wasn't ready.  _I'm not ready._ She could already feel her heart begin to accelerate with the anxiety. He sensed it too because he brought his arm around to hug her, and she let herself get pulled into his chest when he turned to face her completely, wrapping her arms around his waist as she closed her eyes tightly and whispered into his slightly torn black shirt in need of stitching, "I'm not ready."

He didn't respond, and she didn't think she needed him to respond as he ran a tentative caress of his hand through her hair despite how soaked it was from the moisture having fallen and then the one gathered at the trunk. She tried not to think how this was the first real time they'd hugged. It was natural, like if in another life they did exactly this all the time but instead of sitting by the stream, they sat by the window overlooking the sea in the safety of a dry surface. But that was just her childish dreams coming out again. She wondered if maybe that's why he called her a princess, because she always dreamed and imagined like she was one when deep down she was a girl abandoned, not wanting by her parents since birth. It wasn't awkward. It was just uncomfortable to hold in her sobs, so her body trembled, but she still refused to give in. She told herself not to cry. And she wasn't about to cry in front of him. Or anyone. 

"We'll figure it out, I promise you."

She didn't want promises. She wasn't sure she trusted promises. Promises were just masked because behind the beautiful word so many liked to use, it was just a lie. Just another lie she didn't want to fall into. And she wanted to trust him, not his promises.

"Killian?"

"Yes?"

"Don't use that word."

Emma didn't think he knew which word she was talking about, but he nodded and then pulled back so that she was suddenly left off guard from her face not hidden in his shirt anymore as he put both hands on her shoulders and gently shook her so she would look up.

"How about a question, then? Is a question okay?"

Emma rolled her eyes, "Sure."

A smile took over his lips. "Will you brave the waters with me?"

She burst out laughing at his choice of words, but he stayed dead serious, waiting for her to answer. She shook her head, just looking at him with a glint of a tease in her eye. "Seriously, Killian?  That's so cheesy."

He still pushed, "So what do you say?"

"Fine," She rolled her eyes again, nodding this time. "yeah, I'll brave the waters with you."

"Excellent!," He let her shoulders go, and she smirked at him. "Then that's settled."

A soft chuckled escaped her as they went back to the positions they'd been in before the hug. "You think we might be getting sick and this is just our fever running?"

"What, because we're still out in the rain?"

"Yep."

He rose a shoulder like he was considering it, and she smiled at how stupid they were sounding right now. "Probably."

But she secretly liked this stupid. She let it go on for who knows how many more minutes before she suggested just as he opened his mouth to say something, but she spoke first, "Do you think we should go back?"

Killian snorted, "I'm surprised they haven't noticed yet."

The thought made her uneasy, like maybe they were watching from somewhere.

"Yeah...let's go."

He still waited a minute to rise up, but he did and then she did the same as they tried to straighten out the wrinkles in their clothes and dust off the dirt while flicking off the mud with similar frowns. And they both took off running at the same time because for some reason the light drizzle was still going on, even as they ran back to the place they disliked the most. But it was the only place that could bring them cover from the rain outside.


End file.
